In the 1960s, plans were being put forth to develop property south of Rose Hill into townhouses or possibly apartments. That didn't sit well with the adjacent community and the new supervisor, Joseph Alexander, who was in his first term as a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The plan was to cluster the new development away from Dogue Creek, meaning that the folks who had just move...  Read More

It didn't take long for the new residents of Rose Hill to start beating the drum for an elementary school. In fact, the School Board and the Board of Supervisors responded by placing a bond issue on the November 1955 ballot. It passed and the school opened in September of 1957. The cost was $502,016 for a 20-classroom structure. By contrast, the most recent expansion of 10 classrooms that opened i...  Read More

In the very early 1950s, a Sunday drive out to the country from Washington, Alexandria and Arlington could include the pastoral scenes along Telegraph or Franconia Roads. From either road, you could see the cattle grazing on the 700-acre farm called Rose Hill owned by R.L. May, president of the Alexandria, Barcroft and Washington Bus Company (AB&W). Mr. May also invited his employees to the farm f...  Read More

Huntley Meadows: How a Few People Turned Government Surplus Land into a Natural Wonder in Our Midst Purchased by the Federal Government in the 1930s, the large tract now known as Huntley Meadows Park was a super-secret tracking site for radio signals on the land, in the sea and in the air. In fact, the first confirmation of the Soviet Union’s space satellite, Sputnik, was recorded there shortly af...  Read More